THE CHRISTIAN AFRIKANERS - The Works of F. N. Lee

immediately apparent. I don't want you to think that there is not a lot of resistance to Christianityeven in South Africa -- not a lot of difficult decisions that are being made regarding the furtherexpansion of Christian and Calvinistic education in that land!I'd now like to say something about some of the products of education -- and particularly about thearts and the sciences. You are all aware, of course, that South Africa was the world's first country totransplant the human heart. One may approve or disapprove of this, depending on one's theologicalevaluation of it. But in many other areas too, there have been world breakthroughs in the sciences.South Africa is the only country in the world that has mastered the technique of producing uraniumvery cheaply. Ten years ago there were American spies in South Africa -- trying to learn the secretof this production of enriched uranium in a cheap way.And of course, South Africa is also the world's leader -- as you know -- in turning coal intogasoline. They have three or four huge plants, each stretching for acres, involved in doing just this.Right now, with the increasing economic crunch in the United States, American specialists arebeing trained in South Africa by South Africans -- anent the technique of doing this. TheseAmericans then intend coming back to the United States and doing something similar in America --to alleviate the increasing (contrived or artificial) oil shortage in the U.S.I would also point out that of all of the Faculties of Atomic Energy in South African Universities,the very best Faculties are chaired not just by Christians but by dedicated Calvinists. Such includethe son of Professor Hendrik Stoker, Dr. Louw Alberts, Dr. A.J.A. Roux, and others.One could well go on to say something about gold-mining technology. South Africa has the deepestand most specialised mines in the world. There are also advanced ventilation techniques and fastdrilltechniques -- because the gold in South Africa is very deep and inaccessible. But I wouldparticularly like to say something about the arts, with which you may not be familiar.A few words about the Afrikaans tongue. It is a very interesting language. I suppose you can saythat Afrikaans is based upon seventeenth century Southern Dutch, mixed with Western German --Dutch as spoken in Belgium, and German as spoken on the western border of Germany. There arealso strong admixtures from the French Huguenots, from Scandinavians, and (far more recently)from English -- together with minimal traces of words derived from contacts with non-Whites inAfrica (and to a lesser extent from Indonesia). You mix all of that together in a pan, stir it, bake itat 360 degrees -- and three centuries later what comes out in an indigenous form, is Afrikaans!Afrikaans is a Germanic language -- like German, Dutch, Frisian, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian,Icelandic, and English. Afrikaans is the only Germanic language in the world to have developedoutside of Europe. It is the only Germanic language ever to have developed in Africa.Afrikaans is also the most modern (although I hate to use this word) almost "computerised"language in the world. It has hardly any inflections or strong forms whatsoever. It is a "tailor made"and a specialized language which conveys the maximum of content with the minimum ofphraseology. The American Professor Dr. Richard Gaffin of Westminster Theological Seminary,who reads Afrikaans quite well, once told me that it is a very neat language, especially fortheological purposes.I' d like to give you some interesting samples of Afrikaans literature -- trying to render theirconstructions into English. Of course, it loses a great deal in translation. I have already mentionedthe figure of the great Totius and his poem about the ox-wagon -- the White child of South Africatreks further on into the land. He also wrote an excellent essay on the service of mercy of theDeacons -- and another book on a few basic principles of Calvinism. Then there is also Professor